Torch bearer Snoop Dogg looks forward to “special” relay, recalls Muhammad Ali's

Hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg will carry the Olympic flame Friday (Jul. 26) through the streets of Saint-Denis, on the outskirsts of the French capital.

The California born will represent his county of birth and carry the torch in the final stages of the Olympic relay, hours before the opening ceremony on the River Seine.

The 2028 summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles.

When 51-year-old Snoop Dogg agreed to become an Olympic torch bearer, he recalled an iconic moment watching Muhammad Ali at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

“It was emotional for all of us to see the champ holding that torch,” Snoop Dogg said Wednesday of the late Ali who surprised the crowd when he lit the cauldron because he had Parkinson's disease.

“This is my own version of it," Snoop Dogg said. "I don’t want to get too emotional, but I know that this is special.”

Snoop Dogg now hopes to recreate some of that magic for a global audience watching the Paris Olympics.

“I’m going to show you why they made me the man to do it,” he said. “I’m going to put all of my resources and energy around it with peace, love and harmony. That’s what the Olympics is all about. I feel like that’s why they chose me. That’s what I represent.”

He will also serve as a news correspondent during the Games for a big US commercial broadcast television.